Induced metal-ion exchange in excavated human bone

Excavated human bone was exposed to aqueous solutions containing high concentrations of a single added metal ion in order to examine the extent of introduction of contaminating materials during burial. Variables included pH, temperature, ion concentration, state of bone (whole or crushed), structure of buffer, and counterion. Calcium and sodium showed little increase, and even a decrease in some cases. Strontium, zinc, lead, and magnesium showed large increases probably through heteroionic replacement of calcium. Manganese, aluminum, and potassium showed increases, particularly under neutral conditions, probably through infiltration into voids and defects.     

Miliacin in palaeosols from an Early Iron Age in Ukraine reveal in situ cultivation of broomcorn millet

During the archaeobotanical investigation of Scythian–Sarmatian period (Early Iron Age), pits with crop processing waste, discovered in the floodplain of Donets River, eastern Ukraine, and charred remains of cereal grains, dominated by broomcorn millet, were recorded. The grains from the pits were radiocarbon dated to the fifth to first century BC. Those pits are distant from any known contemporaneous settlement. The apparent disconnection of these pits from any local settlement suggests that (1) millet was brought from other locations by mobile groups, or (2) millet was cultivated locally by populations whose settlements have left no discernible archaeological trace. The analysis of molecular biomarkers preserved in palaeosols that are stratigraphically connected to the pits revealed high levels of miliacin, a molecule that can be preserved in ancient soils and sediments, and that is consistent with broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum). High levels in miliacin in soils stratigraphically connected to the pits are interpreted as the result of a large biomass of P. miliaceum produced at time of soil formation. Our biogeochemical results applied to a palaeosol thus attest to the in situ cultivation of crops dominated by the broomcorn millet during the early Iron Age in the floodplain of Donets River. Biochemical examination of soils and palaeosols can thus provide useful information on past dynamics of land-use by ancient population, especially when settlements or macrobotanical remains are absent.     

Rapid Transit and Community Power: West Oakland Residents Confront BART

Regional transportation planning shaped minority activism in the mid-1960s. The Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system encouraged West Oakland activists to create a strong local identity. BART supporters valued regional mobility and blamed ghetto poverty on the inaccessibility of suburban jobs. Minority activists blamed BART for harming the ghetto poor by encouraging job migration to the suburbs, and for displacing residents. As compensation, they demanded that BART hire minority workers and increase relocation payments. While West Oakland activists largely failed to influence BART, the newly unified community did gain local control of schools and urban poverty programs.